


No Kissing

by Travelfreak



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 20:25:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13131510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Travelfreak/pseuds/Travelfreak
Summary: “You’ve always been good at things like this, undercover missions stuff like that” Rafael said between sips of his drink.“Yeah well, the trick is to put a bit of yourself in it, to make it more realistic” Sonny replied.“So what part of yourself have you put in dating me?”





	No Kissing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChameleonCircuit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChameleonCircuit/gifts).



> This work is for ChameleonCircuit, even we weren't original pairs for this gift exchange I hope you'll still enjoy reading!  
> I had a lot of fun writing this, but I'll give a lot more credit to fanfic writers now that I see how much work it is.  
> Happy Holidays!

* * *

 

 

Carisi was on his way down to Barba’s office. It was finally the end of the day, with his last task being to drop off some investigation notes to their ADA. Muscle memory was the only thing keeping him on track, with otherwise distracting thoughts of the Mets game that was to play later that night. _Man, I can’t wait to get home._ It had been a long case, but the positive afterglow of it had put Carisi in a rather good mood. He opened the door to Barba’s office with a bit of a spring in his step as he made his way to his desk.

Barba simply raised his eyebrows at him in greeting.

“Here are the rest of the case notes. You need anything else?”. Barba looked at him again, just for a second longer. Carisi smiled in response.

“Actually I was wondering if I could talk to you about something”. Removing his feet from his desk, Barba got up from his seat to face the detective.

“I’m all ears” Carisi said gesturing with open hands.

“I seem to have gotten myself in a little situation”

 

* * *

 

 

“Wait, so how did we meet”

Barba took a second before responding. “What?”

“What if someone asks us how we met? I mean it’s a standard question. I want to be prepared in case someone asks it!”

“Well, we can just say that we met through work.”

“Will that be good enough?”

“What, not the fairytale romance you were expecting? Should we say that we met at the ball? And the glass slipper fit you?”

“Well if we’re making it all up then why can’t it be interesting?”

“Interesting is complicated. The best way to get people to stop asking is to be boring”

“Do you know that from experience?”

A glare was all he got in return. Carisi couldn’t believe he let himself into this situation. It was dangerous, not in the literal sense, but it certainly felt like it. Just because Barba was going to lose a bet to his asshole lawyer friends shouldn’t mean that he would get sucked into it as well.

_“All my regular contacts are busy.”_

_“Oh well since your ‘regulars’ are busy, you just decided that I would be the next reasonable choice?”_

_“Yes actually”_

Barba, on the other hand, was relieved that Carisi would help him out. A few of his coworkers had bet that he wouldn’t show up with a date to the office Christmas party (again). Barba had been planning to go with a friend he met at the Annual Bar Association meet up, but they had cancelled last minute. Carisi was his only way out of the painfully embarrassing teasing that would no doubt occur if he showed up alone. And plus, there were worse people to go out with than Carisi.

_“I just have one major rule”_

_“Okay counsellor what rule would that be?”_

_“No kissing”_

Carisi remembered howling at the rule, but felt sick about it now. People were expecting them to be in a relationship, why wouldn’t they be kissing? But he shook his head. _No kissing Barba. Got it._

 

It was dark out when they arrived. One of the things Barba hated about December is that it always gets dark so early. It made the long nights feel longer.

He stole a quick glance towards Carisi. The man’s cool exterior would have fooled him if it weren’t for the tapping of his fingers against his thigh. Barba considered swatting him to stop, but the distraction of the coat check seemed to ease Carisi’s nerves a bit. Honestly, Barba was a little nervous himself. These were real people he was going to meet, he wasn’t just reading an undercover operation on paper.

“You ready?” Barba asked as they approached the main hall.

Carisi without sparing a second look just said, “Let’s break a leg”

 

* * *

 

 

For the first seven and a half minutes, the pair was left with a relative peace. But the stalling by grabbing a drink didn’t do much for Carisi. He liked action. Of course, he would have no idea what to say if approached, but he worked best on his feet. The worst part of the whole night was waiting for it to actually begin. Barba, he thought, probably wouldn’t agree.

“Mr. Barba! It’s good to see you”, an older man, smartly dressed, approached the couple.

“Mr. Cannings, how’s your wife?” The slip into Professional Barba, was almost immediate. Taking a look around, the skill was not uncommon at these events.

“Oh well you just missed her, I think she went off to the rest room”, it was then that the man’s gaze shifted to Carisi.

“I see you’ve also brought a guest?”

“This is my partner, Detective Sonny Carisi”. Sonny was grateful for the small things, like Barba introducing him using Sonny, instead of his whole name. When the introductions were short and to the point, people were more likely to forget it. Having a parade of names flow out of his mouth was sure to gain just the slightest bit more of attention.

It wasn’t until the half a second pause in the conversation that it was his turn to speak.

“Nice to meet you. The DA’s office sure knows how to pick a venue!” Truthfully speaking, the place was a palace.

“They certainly do. You should have seen last year’s meet, you’d think all the donations were going to the parties”

Chuckling at the joke, Carisi soon found himself slipping into his role. Usually, when undercover, he just needed to adjust to the environment a little, to really get into it. Being a charming political figure? Check. Being Barba’s boyfriend? Work in progress.

Shortly after, the two of them moved onto other guests. Not all of them were as politically graceful as Mr. Cannings.

This time Barba was the one pull them to the next guest.

“Janice, how are you doing tonight?”

“Raphael hello! I’m glad to see you here! Word on the street is that you and a few of the other ADA’s don’t bother with these sort of events”

“Aha well I thought I’d be a little more social tonight, in support of a good cause”

“Yes that’s great! I know the DA’s office really benefits from the donations that come out of these sort of events.”

“Ah yes I’m sure. Well allow me to introduce my partner, Detective Sonny Carisi” The woman’s handshake was warm, but a confused stare was stuck to her face.

“Uh yes, nice to meet you- I’m sorry, partner in…?”

_Oh boy specifics._

Carisi and Barba exchanged a look, but before they could get a word out, Janice seemed to get it.

“Oh! Oh yes. God. Sorry, yes partner. So you two are-yes ok. I didn’t realize you were gay.” Pointing her semi-question at Barba. And he, ever the diplomat, simply smiled lightly. Carisi however, held back rolling his eyes. This felt strangely like an awkward Christmas party with the extended relatives, and less like a work party with free booze.

“Uh so, how did you guys meet?”

 _Yes! I know this one_. But Barba beat him to the punch. “Oh you know, through work”

“Right, around here it’s hard to meet people outside of work”

Carisi just let out a huff, “I’ll say”.

Quickly, Barba stole the conversation and led it towards more familiar territory. “So Janice, I hear you’re helping Diane Patil run for judicial office”. And Sonny was once again left to stand there silently.

What a boring undercover mission.

Janice ‘Whatever-her-last-name-is’, maintained her conversation with Barba, but kept her gaze between the two of them. They must look like a pretty odd couple right now, standing next to each other like toy soldiers. Carisi made a mental note to fix that.

 

* * *

 

 

At their table, Barba was too distracted by the guest to their left to concentrate on silencing Carisi from the guest on their right.

Carisi thought, maybe the night wouldn’t be so bad if he was able to get some sweet lawyering tips from this other ADA at his table. The dude was actually pretty nice. A few free drinks will do that to a person he guessed.

“…but I’m sure your boyfriend over there could have told you that”. Sonny froze for moment, forgetting why he was here in the first place. Of course Barba would be able to answer all his more basic legal questions, why wouldn’t he?

“Aha yes I’m sure he could. We tend to leave the shop talk at work though”

That would be a nice story, if he actually believed it. Carisi couldn’t imagine Barba dating a cop and not clip in a few legal arguments here and there. But who knows, maybe that’s precisely the reason Sonny had never seen him date a cop, or another lawyer.

“Must be nice, I’m sure my wife wouldn’t mind that rule at home too. I tend to get a bit carried away”

“Well yeah I get that, especially for a hard case or something. It’s hard not to bring that home with you” Carisi has definitely done that in a few of his past relationships. He had tried to keep them separate, but in the end, he’s only human.

“Yeah well especially when you’re on the good side. I bet the defend doesn’t lose any sleep” They chuckled at that.

The main dish was served, and Barba used the opportunity to lean over to Carisi.

“How you doing over there?” he whispered. One good thing about the whole pretend relationship thing, was that they had complete liberty to whisper to each other in plain public without anyone caring.

“Good. Fine. Everything is going smoothly” Barba nodded and returned back to his meal. When Carisi turned his head, he found the man he had been talking to had turned and started a conversation with the person beside him.

“Ok wait so who is that guy again?” Carisi asked and nodded his head in one direction.

“That would be Larry Reynolds, an ADA in cybercrime.” Carisi nodded, as if he were trying to learn every name of every person coming to the party.

“Do you know everyone here?” Carisi asked.

“Just about”

“Nah, I don’t believe it. There’s definitely someone in here that you don’t know”

Barba turned towards him, “Oh yeah? Try me then.”

“Alright who’s the girl over there in the blue dress?”

“Brenda Chin, one of the paralegals”

“Okay that man coming out of the bathroom”

“Jeff Johnson, assistant to…” the two of them kept at this little game until everyone at their table finally finished their food.

 

* * *

 

 

"Hey. Hold my hand."

Rafael took a hard look between Sonny's face and his open palm between them before giving in.

"And can you try not to look so stiff?"

He just rolled his eyes. "Well sorry if I'm not the Oscar winning actor that you seem to be".

Sonny smiled at that. "Aw come on Rafael, you get up there on that stand and you're telling me there's no acting involved in that?"

Sonny turned around but heard a huff in response. The district attorney has just walked in.

"He'd like you, you know" he heard beside him. Sonny turned back towards Barba, "Who?"

"The District Attorney, he's likes the one's with a little passion involved, easier to convince them to stay late" Sonny didn't say anything to that. Just watched the man in question take his coat off and turn towards his colleagues.

"I can introduce you if you want?"

"Nah, it's fine. Doesn't matter anyways, I'm sticking with SVU for the time being"

"Makes no difference to me"

As the two of them were standing together, Sonny smiled to himself. Barba doesn't seem like the kind of guy to get sweaty hands. It was kind of weird how much he learned about Barba over the past few weeks. He'd always enjoy working with him, seek it out even. And although he felt like they had really bonded over case notes and jury arguments, Barba had never shared much of himself. Carisi couldn't even think of how much he'd shared with him! It was okay though, because Carisi was fairly certain most of it fell on deaf ears, so they probably were even by now. He knew the man didn't like existing in details, liked to be a force of nature that people didn't need to think too hard about. The details ruined the facade. Yet here he was, holding Barba's sweaty hands.

 

* * *

 

 

They were so close. Raphael could see the door. At last it was an acceptable time to leave, yet Rita had bumped into them right before.

“Raphael! I heard you and Detective Carisi were here”

A subtle blush ran up to Barba’s cheeks. If only they had left a minute earlier. Then they could have avoided this mess.

“Yes, although I’m more surprised to see you here. There aren’t a lot of defense attorney’s here tonight.” Barba was watching Rita carefully. She definitely would have heard if he and Sonny were dating. The fact that she was here meant trouble.

“Detective, how good to see you again”

“Hey Ms. Calhoun, Merry Christmas” Sonny said politely.

“And Merry Christmas to you too! Oh you too should come to a Christmas party of my own next Saturday! Trust me it’ll be a little more bearable then this place”

And that was how a one-date-fake relationship turned into a two-date-fake-relationship.

 

* * *

 

 

Turns out lawyers like to party around Christmas time. Barba explained that it was when everyone got their bonuses. The two-date-fake-relationship had been dragging on all month. Carisi had lost count to their 'dates'. Barba hadn't, they had gone out 9 times. 

This time, Raphael was absolutely finished with socializing, and Sonny was finished with drinking. After leaving their latest party, they stopped off at a greasy dinner to get some food. It was late and neither of them had eaten.

 

Carisi was surprised that Barba picked this place. He was 99% sure that a dinner this small didn’t serve anything but burgers and breakfast. But all the same he enjoyed the retro look and the food wasn’t that bad.

They had settled down and were just starting to get comfortable.

“You’ve always been good at things like this, undercover missions stuff like that” Rafael said between bites of his food.

“Yeah well, the trick is to put a bit of yourself in it, to make it more realistic” Sonny replied.

“So what part of yourself have you put in dating me?”

“Haha very funny.” Although it rattled Sonny. He didn’t expect a slightly tipsy lawyer questioning him when he was just trying to eat his food.

Barba was just finishing up the last of his fries when Carisi started his milkshake.

“Is that good?” Barba asked while sticking another fry in his mouth.

“Uh yeah it’s pretty good. But like, you can’t go wrong with a milkshake”

He nodded. “I’m thinking about getting one myself. A little reward for such a disaster night”, he finished with a smile.

“Ya know I thought you were gonna call me a child or whatever for getting one at 1:30 in the morning”

He huffed at that. “It was 1:30 when we got here detective, it’s closer to 2:30 now. And I’ll have you know that I have no qualms about ice cream at this time. It is after dinner isn’t it? If anything, that’s the more adult thing of you to do” he said with a smirk.

“Well here, just have the rest of mine. I can’t finish it anyways” and he slide over the half finished drink.

Barba looked at him cautiously before sliding it closer to him and taking a sip from the straw. “You’re getting old”

This time Carisi huffed, turning it into a full out laugh. When he was done he rubbed his eyes with both hands. “It’s been a weird night”.

Barba raised his eyebrows quickly in agreement. “What’s wrong detective, can’t handle it? I thought you were supposed to be good at undercover missions?”

“Hey why are you suddenly gaining energy like you just had 3 coffees? It’s 2:30 in the morning, I’m tired and you’re here jumping off the walls like a werewolf”

“Excuse me what?”

“Like a werewolf.”

Barba squinted his eyes and looked very carefully at Carisi.

“Uh I’m not sure I’m following your metaphor here Carisi”

“Like I don’t know, don’t werewolves come out at night?”

“On full moons?”

“Yeah well it’s a full moon isn’t it?”

“Uh yeah but what does that have to do with bouncing off the walls?”

Carisi shook his head, “I don’t know. I’m tired. My mouth isn’t working right currently”

“Is that why you gave me your milkshake? Because your mouth isn’t working right?”

“No, I gave you my milkshake because I’m a very good boyfriend”

“Ahh right, I see. Well detective, if you’re going to be the perfect boyfriend then you won’t mind paying the bill.” He said while signaling to the waitress.

“Uh no thanks, you owe me for tonight”

Barba took a deep sigh, “This doesn’t sound like a very good date” he said while pulling out his wallet.

“Well you’re not even putting out so…”

“Well not after making me pay the bill I’m not”

“Now why do I have to be the one to charm you into sex? I have standards too ya know”

Barba laughed at that one. “What?! I can play hard to get!” he tried to defend himself.

Barba just kept laughing.

“What?! Come on what happened to ‘Good Catholic Boyfriend’?”

“Carisi, no offence but you wouldn’t turn down an offer to have sex”

“Yes I could”

“Okay, you’re right. Sex is a bad example. I’m just saying, that if you had a nice date with someone you liked, you would want to do anything to please them (forgetting sex)”

He huffed. “There is so much about that, that’s untrue”

“Yeah then why’d you agree to this?”

Carisi paused.

“Why did you agree to pretend to be dating me?”

The pause continued.

“Because you like helping people. There’s nothing wrong with that. Just so long as you don’t drown yourself keeping everyone else afloat.”

It took a while before Carisi could respond. The fuzzy haze of his sleep-deprived mind made it hard to fashion an appropriate response. It wasn’t until the waitress took the bill away that he came to.

“I don’t have sex with people for the sole purpose of pleasing them, and I wouldn’t have said yes to this to just anyone.” He spoke like he was reading a list of statements. One after another, choppy but to the point.

Barba stared at him again, then nodded. “Shall we get out of here?”

Carisi bounced back pretty fast. “Ha are you finally feeling tired?”

“Well I just thought, since it’s past your bedtime…”

“Very funny. You know I hear the older you get the harder it is to fall asleep”

Barba gave a closed mouthed chuckle as they walked out of the dinner together.

“I guess I’m just always doing work around this time. No time to sleep when there are sex offenders on the street.”

There was a bite to the cold air that Carisi didn’t like, and he briefly thought of some dumb Game of Thrones quote. Barba was already scheduling a Lyft. Carisi thought he should probably do the same.

“Yeah that’ll do it. But if you want some help, or just want some company in those early hours… you should call me”

“Maybe if you’re not as grouchy as you are tonight”

Sonny laughed at that.

“Yeah well, maybe it’ll be under nicer circumstances”

It was then that Barba’s ride showed up. “What sharing a milkshake with me wasn’t the romantic date you thought it would be?” he said as he climbed into the car.

Carisi let out a genuine laugh, “actually it was the highlight of my day”.

Barba smiled, “Goodnight Carisi” and the car pulled away.

 

* * *

 

 

"So, how is your little fake dating experiment with Carisi going?" Liv asked before handing Rafael his glass of wine.

"Honestly it's going probably exactly how you would imagine it's going". He took a sip and got himself settled down on her couch. Rafael liked Liv's apartment. It was cozy and warm. He could think of no other person the stylish but lived-in apartment fit better than her. It spoke to the confidence of her own life. Rafael took a second to wonder what his apartment looked like to other people. Wondered what Carisi's said about him.

"Okay, well you guys haven't thrown the towel in yet so I assume it's not a total disaster" she smiled warmly. She knew the two men generally got along, but they were very different personalities. It would be easy for one of them to push the other over the edge.

"There are certainly worst men to date"

"Of course, I was just wondering how you guys were getting along". She took another sip of her glass and watched Raphael carefully. He had been strangely quiet about the whole arrangement.

"Well we've been busy, making all those _oh so enjoyable political dinners_ , I think they've even convinced Carisi to hate them. We've mostly avoided anything _too_ intimate, so that's a good thing"

She laughed at that. "How intimate are we talking here?"

"I said we _haven't_ needed to be. Nothing more than holding hands, lovey-dovey talk, you know, the works."

"Aw how cute"

"Ugh thanks Liv"

"Now wait was it everything except kissing, right?"

“Yes. Everything except kissing”. He squinted his eyes at her, "What were you expecting juicy details?”

"You know me"

"You know I'm starting to think your little detective is enjoying his roll"

"Oh is he? Well you know how he likes his undercover rolls"

"Aw well. He's eye candy. Makes me look good to the other ADA's"

"I guess this situation has an up side".

They both laughed for a bit, sipping their wine, relaxing after a long week. It was light joking like this that got Barba through the week. Although it seemed like Liv had a few more questions prepared like the good Lieutenant she was.

“I just wanted to make sure everything was going smoothly for you guys. I know this is a stranger than usual circumstance” she continued.

“Yeah but it’s fine. I’m sure at some point we’ll ‘break up’ and everything will return back to normal. In the mean time he’s making some great networks if he ever wants to pursue litigation.” He took a sip of his wine, and noticed that she was watching him closely.

“Do you want to break up with him?” she said quietly.

“Liv, we’re not actually dating.”

“Yes, yes, I know. It just seemed to me that you really like spending time with Carisi”.

Raphael shifted in his seat. This had gone away from the friendly joking it had been earlier. Gone was the relaxing night in, and in was the interrogation. Liv wasn’t blind. She knew that the two men had given each other long looks and easy banter. It worried her that her friend and her detective were playing a dicey game. Things like these usually end in one of two ways.

“Liv. Don’t do this. Just let me handle it okay? I know what I’m doing.” Some lies Raphael told himself were obvious. Lies like these were disguised from even himself.

“Okay. I’ll stay out of it”

“Thank you”

And soon the banter and relaxing night in returned.

 

* * *

 

Sometimes, shit happens.

“Carisi. We had one rule.”

Sometimes, in the moment you lose yourself.

“Yeah I know but-“

“No. I’m stopping this right now. This has gone way out of its depth”

Sometimes, you just have to kiss someone.

“What exactly has gone right out of its depth?”

“This whole thing! This entire situation!”

Sometimes, you’re reminded that it’s not real.

“The fake-dating part or the fake-dating me part?”

Barba turned to face him, face red with anger.

“And why exactly, detective, would you believe for even a second that this is about you?”

Sonny huffed before responding, “Look Rafael, you’re right. This has gone too far, and we should stop this now. But don’t try and tell me that this would have been the same if you were doing this with anyone else.”

Rafael took a hard look at Sonny. He was right. This was a horrible idea from the start and doing it with Carisi was even worse. No kissing. That was supposed to be the gatekeeper to prevent them from crossing the line.

 _Well you literally dated him, it wasn’t much of a line,_ he thought cynically.

But it wasn’t needed. They could have gotten out of it. Randy, and Abigail, and all the other people there would have understood if they didn’t want to kiss in public. They didn’t have to.

But they did anyways. Sonny did.

“Well regardless, this is over. There’s nothing else to this.”

“Nothing else huh?” Carisi countered.

They stared at each other for a heartbeat. Then it was Carisi who turned and walked away.

 

* * *

 

 

"Hey you're still here?" Rollins' familiar voice echoed through the empty station.

"Uh yeah, just trying to finish up my report" Taking a glance back to the screen of his laptop, he saw it was almost 10:30.

"What are you still here for?" He asked. Carisi had certainly stayed at the precinct later than this before, but it was still past the regular hours that any of his teammates should be here.

"I left my laptop here, didn't want to wait 'till Monday to come and grab it" After packing her bag up Carisi saw her putting her coat back on. He hadn't even heard her come in.

"You know that report doesn't have to be finished tonight. It’s nearing the holidays so, I'm sure everyone would understand if you submitted it on Monday" She gave him a long look. He hated how easy it was for everyone here to say something without really saying it.

After a second glance at his screen, Carisi suddenly felt very tired. Like his fatigue had been dammed back, only releasing when Rollins brought notice to it.

"Uh... yeah. I think you're right." She looked surprised at that, but all the same, waited for him to pack up his things so they could leave together.

Carisi was grateful for her silence. He didn't think he would hold a very good conversation right now. And so the only noise around them were the sounds of papers rustling, the wheels of his chair, and the eventual zipper of his own winter jacket.

Together they headed towards the elevator, and with its closing doors they were met with the soft light of the interior. Seemingly after no longer than a blink, they were outside, only the bite of the cold winter night reminding Carisi they had left the building.

_Man I gotta get home._

All he wanted was some peace at mind. Maybe laying down in his bed could rid his mind of the thoughts which ran him like a marathon.

“Hey, is this about Barba?” Amanda asked. He froze at the question, not being able to come up with a real answer, he said “It’s nothing Rollins, I’m fine. Really.”

She paused for a second before continuing. "Just try to take it easy alright? And ya know you can call me if you need anything." She said with a concerned look. Her keys jingled as she found her key without looking.

"Thanks. Goodnight" he said with a short nod. And headed off towards his subway station.

God. All he could think about was his bed. Maybe he could grab a taxi instead.

The whole ordeal took maybe 20 minutes to get back to his place. But just as if life was playing a practical joke, his head hit the pillow and he did not instantly fall asleep as he'd hoped.

 

* * *

 

Raphael wasn’t sleeping either. Sonny was right. This whole time they had been slowly getting closer to each other. At this point, they were practically dating for real. Sharing stories, sitting together and talking with real interest, not just the pretend ‘I have to be here’ type conversations.

With a deep breath, he knew he had to sort this out with Sonny. Even if nothing were to come of it, he at least wanted them to return to normal.

 _Hey, meet me at Ricky’s Dinner tomorrow at 9?_ He texted. It was late, but he still got his reply before falling asleep.

_Sure. I’ll see you there._

 

 

Sonny was already seated when Barba walked in. He didn’t look angry, but was completely unafraid of meeting his gaze head on.

“Hey” Barba said while sitting down.

“Hey, I got us some coffee” Barba was relieved for that fact. If for no other reason then to have something to keep his hands busy. Carisi looked like he was doing the same.

“You wanted to talk?” Sonny started.

Barba took a deep breath. He was never the kind of guy to beat around the bush. Never shy or afraid, but his tendency to get it over with didn’t help his unsettled stomach.

“I just wanted to say, that I was being stupid”

Carisi’s looked down at his coffee briefly, then switching his view to anywhere but Barba’s face.

“It wasn’t stupid, we had a rule. You always made perfect sense.”

Barba was quiet for a while after that. He never liked situations like these, he was acting awkward and out of place. The two of them had fun together when they could be relaxed and comfortable.

“I guess I was just a little embarrassed. I’m sorry this got away from us. It’s just a stressful time of year” Carisi added.

“Yeah well, it got away from me too. I let some things get in the way of our, shall we say ‘performance’”. Barba said with air quotes around the word.

Carisi quietly chuckled.

“Haha, Merry Christmas to us, am I right?” Sonny joked while taking a sip of his coffee.

The waitress soon came over to take their orders, Raphael bacon and eggs, and Sonny some pancakes.

“You know I still really enjoyed spending the time with you. The parties sucked but you weren’t so bad company” Raphael added while Sonny started on his food.

Sonny looked up. This was outside of their ‘dates’, this was just the two of them, no strings attached. Raphael met his eyes as he rose the silent question.

But Raphael changed the moment into a different one easily, “Have I ever told you that I think your precious baseball team The Mets, suck?”

Sonny furrowed his eyebrows together in preparation for a defense.

“-But, I’d be willing to be convinced otherwise, say over dinner? A real dinner. Not some fake, office-party dinner?”

The defensive look turned into one of humor.

“Sure counselor, I bet I can change your mind”

“Yeah I bet you could”

 


End file.
